Sonos has officially appointed Tom Conrad (seen above)  as its permanent CEO, following the abrupt departure of Patrick Spence, whose tenure left the company grappling with a series of operational and strategic missteps.

Conrad, a former board member and ex-Snap executive, had been serving as interim CEO for the past six months. During that time, he worked to clean up the mess left behind by Spence and his leadership team—including a disastrous app redesign, sluggish sales, and a botched launch of the company’s new Ace headphones.

The app rollout, criticized for being unfit for release, sparked widespread user backlash and contributed to further reputational damage. Meanwhile, Sonos faced mounting financial losses and weakening demand for its core products, deepening the company’s crisis.

Conrad acted swiftly after stepping in. He began stabilizing operations, boosting cash flow by moving unsold inventory, and cutting underperforming senior staff. One of his first major strategic moves was terminating the company’s partnership with IKEA, as the Swedish furniture giant expanded its own range of home automation products.

The scale of the damage was evident when Spence admitted during an earnings call late last year that fixing the app debacle would cost between A$30 million and A$45 million.

As part of the turnaround, Conrad also took charge of repairing the troubled launch of Sonos’ Ace headphones and spearheaded the long-delayed rollout of the Sonos TrueCinema feature. TrueCinema, when paired with a Sonos soundbar, calibrates room acoustics to deliver immersive spatial audio through the headphones—a feature originally promised for 2024.

The company’s previous attempts at room measurement technology, dating back a decade, were widely regarded as failures. This time, Conrad is determined to get it right.

In a statement issued last night, Conrad said, “I’m excited to move from rebuilding to imagining the next generation of experiences.”

In an internal email to staff, he added: “Today isn’t about dropping the word ‘interim’ from my title. Today is the day we turn the page to an entirely new chapter. Today is the day we begin our reinvention. And today is the day we return to the absolute focus on excellence and the customer-first principles that were the founding values of our company 20 years ago.”

Conrad has already laid off more than 200 employees globally, including roles in Australia, as part of a broader restructure aimed at transforming Sonos into a leaner, more agile organisation built around “flatter, smaller, and more focused teams.”